Muslim Singlehood

Today's Marriage Advice: "Ladies, 3 things will keep your man happy: Good food, respect and a lil loving."

Peace friends,

So I kinda messed up. Many of you know that this year, we made intentions to raise funds for the 10,000 Girls program which supports the education, empowerment, and economic development of Senegalese girls. Our intention was to produce and sell a beautiful calendar highlighting women around the world adorned in stunning headwraps. Well, we produced the calendar (Beautifully Wrapped), it's absolutely gorgeous and inspirational.......but we didn't complete the selling.

The fatigue of my pregnancy and the workload of my university position began to take a toll and I didn't have enough energy to push the calendars. But alhamdullilah (all praises due to God) with many of your help, we were still able to sell quite a few.

So I'm extremely excited that with your generosity, our first donation check of $3490 is going to the 10,000 Girls program on Friday. Thanks to everyone who purchased a calendar!! This money will go towards the purchase and planting of herb and cashew trees that the girls will use to create tea and spreads. These trees will continue to bear fruit and sustenance for generations to come.

But, we still have about 30 boxes of calendars!

And this is where I need your help. I need just about 30 of you!

Here's the deal: The post-office is a rip off and it costs us an average of $7 to mail 1 calendar. BUT we can send a box of $50 calendars through UPS for just about $35!

So I'm asking each of you or your organization to purchase a box of 50 calendars for $100. That's right, just $100!!

Both prior and since founding Niyah Publishing in 2007, I've worked to raise funds for good projects happening around the world. Alhamdullilah, since I work full time elsewhere, we are able to use all proceeds from our publishing to benefit educational projects. Last year, through the sale of my book, Jihad of the Soul: Singlehood and the Search for Love in Muslim America and through donations gathered by Iman Khalid at the Riverside Academy in Dearborn Michigan, Niyah was able to donate $2400 towards the building of a long-term water well in Mile 91, Sierra Leone West Africa. Such a blessing!

This week I've been reflecting on our intentions for publishing the 2011 Beautifully Wrapped calendar. The Project is about celebrating the beauty of Muslim women and women who cover their hair. We are women who define our own standards of beauty and dare someone to say otherwise. We are women who are often misunderstood but admired from afar. We are women who create our own style and then perfect it.

In a world where beauty is often defined by the length of your skirt and the depth of your neckline, we are saying No Way! We will not play by your rules. We can beautiful, be feminine, be stylish, be flyy AND respected for who we are.

So we began this project with two simple goals: 1) to provide a voice to our beauty and 2) to raise funds for 10,000 Girls in Senegal. Alhamdullilah, we're getting there!

Thanks to all of those who have submitted entries so far. I am in awe of the way you have captured the depth of uniqueness throughout the community. Keep them coming!

For details see our Call for Photography!

A Work of Art from the Artists of all artists.

Call for Submission of Photography

2011 Beautifully Wrapped Calendar

Greetings!  NIYAH is pleased to announce our call for entries to the 2011 Beautifully Wrapped Photography Competition. Call is open to all photographers, amateur and professional worldwide.   

In an age where beauty for women is often equated to the size of your hips and the shortness of your skirt, the Beautifully Wrapped Project -  featuring portraits of women who cover their hair for religious of cultural reasons - effectively redefines the notion of beauty.

Due to popular demand, the Beautifully Wrapped at the Kalamazoo Public Library is full. But don't worry! We're in the process of scheduling a second program. Join our mailing list to receive the announcement.

Transform you do and you!

Peace,

Zarinah.

I've been thinking about "isms." The problem with addressing just one is that the root is never full eradicated. People exhange racism for homophobism (whatever your moral beliefs) or islamophobism or meateatersism (discrimination against people who eat meat, lol). Anyway the real problem is a LOVE DEFICIENCY. A lack of love... for another human being and the understanding that we are all made of the same thing.

From the Fetzer Institute (www.fetzer.org)

Take Action to Love & Forgive

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." — Maya Angelou

By more consciously practicing love and forgiveness, you may notice three things: one, it gets easier; two, it makes you feel good; and three, it's contagious. Why not spread some love and forgiveness around and see what happens?

It wasn't until I wrote a book that I realized how many others dream of writing their own books!  Some want to do it for money, some just have an idea they want to share and others are shooting for fame.  Whatever the reason, books are wonderful ways to begin a conversation with the world. My advice to those of you who want to write a book is to WRITE!   Get your thoughts out of your head and onto paper.  Even though your first 3 drafts will be total crap, you'll feel much better knowing that you've started the process.

Remember that being an author is like having your own business.  You are responsible for the success or failure of your product.  Books don't sell themselves, you must market and let the world know it's available. 

I'll be blogging the steps I find helpful for those of you who are intersted in writing your own books.

Special thank yous go to Jillian and the Canton Public Library for hosting the Art of Headwrapping workshop! Unfortunately, most of our pictures were lost from the event (camera left in movie theatre fiasco :( )  but here is the announcement reprinted from www.cantonpl.org:

From Jillian the Tween Librarian: